Summer ‘24 Week 8

It’s all over! Yesterday, we finally made it home from our 8-week summer 2024 road trip. We had a great time on the road, and we’re really happy to be back at our home-sweet-home. Here are the details about our last week on the road.

Heading back home, we had 3 one-night stops in Nevada, and a 4 night stop in Sacramento, before our final drive home to Ben Lomond.

Our first stop in Nevada was the Welcome Station RV Park, about 7 miles west of Well, NV. It is a small, family-owned park in an oasis of old-growth trees, by a creek in the middle of the high desert. It was one of the parks on this trip that I was a bit unsure about when originally making the reservations back in February. But it was actually a really nice place to stay for the night. We didn’t leave the park for any activities (and we left the truck connected). The people who own the park are friendly, and they have made some nice paths near the creek for walking the dog.

Our spot at the Welcome Station RV Park near Wells, NV.

Plenty of trees and grass at the Welcome Station.

Our second stop in Nevada was at the New Frontier RV Park in Winnemucca. It’s a relatively new, modern park, with lots of large, paved back-in and pull-through spaces, mostly separated by gravel areas with a picnic table and young trees (too small to provide shade). We were in a pull-through spot in a quiet part of the park.

We managed to find a nice place for an afternoon hike in Winnemucca. About 5 miles from the RV park is the Water Canyon Recreation Area. The start of the trail we took was a few miles up the dirt road after you enter the recreation area, near the last camping spot (#10). It’s a beautiful, tree-shaded trail, that led up the mountain. We didn’t reach the end before we turned back, but we did enjoy the parts of the trail we saw. After hiking, we went to dinner at Chihuahua's Grill & Cantina, one of the few dog-friendly restaurants in town.

The hiking trail we found in the Water Canyon Recreation Area. Winnemucca, NV.

Hiking in the Water Canyon Recreation Area. Winnemucca, NV.

A view from the trail. Water Canyon Recreation Area. Winnemucca, NV.

Our last stop in Nevada was one we have stayed at before, the Sparks Marina RV Park, in Sparks. NV. Last year, we were in one of their many pull-through spots, but this time I booked a “Premium Back-In Site with Patio”, and we were lucky to get a really nice spot near the back corner of the park, in a section that was mostly empty for the night we were there.

Our site at Sparks Marina RV Park. Sparks, NV.

Just like we did last year, we walked to Legends Outlet Mall, and ate dinner at Great Full Gardens restaurant, but this year we were joined by one of Andrea’s friends from high school who lives in the area. After dinner, we walked around the Sparks Marina lake, and stopped for a while in their large dog-park, that has shore access to the lake for the dogs.

Rosie playing in the dog park at the Sparks Marina lake.

Rosie playing in the Sparks Marina lake.

Finally, we drove the RV over the Sierra mountains, to our last RV park of this year’s summer trip, our 29th RV park of this journey. Usually when we stay in Sacramento (where Andrea’s mom lives), we’ve stayed at the SacWest RV Park. But that park has very few 50-amp spots, and since it was Labor Day weekend, those spots were already booked when I went to make the reservations. We made a last minute decision to try a different RV park this time, since we knew we would need both air-conditioners running in the hot Sacramento summer weather. I found Sacramento Shade RV Park, which is actually closer to Andrea’s mom’s place than Sac West. It turned out to be a great alternative. Though the roads in the park are a bit tight, and required some careful maneuvering of the RV in and out, the sites are actually quite nice. Each site is surrounded by wooden fences on 3 sides, and we had a little back yard in our site, where we setup our shade structure and outdoor furniture.

Our site at Sacramento Shade RV Park. Sacramento, CA.

Our own private back yard at Sacramento Shade RV Park. Sacramento, CA.

The main reason for our visit to Sacramento was to celebrate Andrea’s mom’s 85th birthday. And celebrate we did. We had dinner with family each night we were there, and the big Sunday party was fantastic, with lots of good food, family and friends. We also drove to Placerville, enjoyed some time at Apple Hill, then shopped and ate lunch in their historic downtown district.

Eating lunch in downtown Placerville, CA.

And then, we drove home. In the end, we had stayed in 29 different RV parks, for a total of 56 nights. We were in 7 different states (CA, NV, AZ, ID, UT MT, WY), and drove a total of 4267 miles in the RV (and hundreds of additional miles in the truck for our various daily adventures). Overall, I’d say it was a very successful, very enjoyable trip, and I’m glad we did it.

Looking forward to future adventures, after we enjoy some time at home, and get some needed maintenance on our rig. We are hoping for a short trip in October, and then a longer one next January.

Thanks again for following along on our journey.

January ‘25 Road Trip

Summer ‘24 Week 7